Early humans knew about iron in meteorites, but they couldn’t melt it and only used it to make small objects like arrowheads by hammering. The earliest evidence of iron-making is a few iron fragments found in Turkey that date back to 2200–2000 BC. 
Iron age..
The Iron Age began around 1200 BC, after the Stone Age and Bronze Age, and lasted until around 550 BC. During this time, people in Europe, Asia, and parts of Africa began making tools and weapons from iron and steel, replacing bronze. The transition to iron happened at different times in different places, with Mesopotamia entering the Iron Age by 900 BC, India around 1200 BC, Central Europe around 800 BC, and China around 300 BC. 
Modern use
Even after 5,500 years, iron is still used today in many ways, including in buildings, bridges, spacecraft, and cast-iron skillets. Steel is the second most produced man-made material, after concrete, and about 90% of refined metal is iron. 
The ancient Hittites of Asia Minor, today’s Turkey, were the first to smelt iron from its ores around 1500 BC and this new, stronger, metal gave them economic and political power. The Iron Age had begun.